The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has developed 10 standards that outline what all preschools, child care centers, kindergartens, and other early childhood education programs should provide to successfully nurture young children.
Not every parent will be able to clearly articulate what their top 10 needs, wants and standards are in choosing one early childhood program over another. However, the NAEYC standards provide a good starting point towards identifying key attributes parents should be using when making a decision. These standards also provide a communication starting point from marketing perspective, and key element deliverables from a product perspective.
The Top 10 Standards
- Promote positive relationships for my child with other children and adults in the classroom and encourage my child’s sense of individual self worth.
- Teach a curriculum that fosters all areas of my child’s development including: cognitive, emotional, language, physical and social.
- Use developmentally, culturally and linguistically appropriate effective teaching approaches with my child.
- Provide ongoing assessments of my child’s learning and development and proactively communicate my child’s progress with me.
- Promote the nutrition and health of my child and protect my child from injury and illness.
- Employ a teaching staff that has the educational qualifications, knowledge, and professional commitment necessary to promote my child’s learning and development, and to support my families’ diverse needs and interests.
- Establish and maintain a collaborative relationship with my family.
- Establish relationships with and use the resources of our community to support the achievement of your/our program goals for my child.
- Provide a safe and healthy physical environment for my child.
- Have strong personnel, fiscal, and program management policies so that all children, families, and staff have high-quality experiences.
